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Thursday, 11 March 2010

Simple Homemade Dessert

It is a wonderful thing to be able to replicate a popular dessert at home.

I copied a Mango Sago with Pomelo recipe from this Food and Travel magazine several months ago. The reason why it took me so long to try is that I never seems to be able to buy both the mango and pomelo at the same time?! The opportunity finally arrived when I saw Thai honey mangoes on sale, and at the same time spotted a full cart of pomelos at the neighbourhood fruit stall. Even though I bought both fruits on the same day, I wasn't able to prepare the dessert right away as I had to wait for several days before the mangoes were fully ripened.

The recipe appears to be simple and straight forward, actually it is too simple since it doesn't even provide any instructions on how to cook the sago pearls. So, for a lousy cook like me, it is not surprising that I burnt the sago pearls while trying to cook them in a pot of cold water! I only managed to find out later that the correct way is to cook the pearls in a pot of boiling water, that way, the pearls would not stick to the bottom of the pan and there won't be any chance of getting them burnt. A lesson learnt!

I tweak the recipe a little by replacing the coconut milk with fresh milk. I am not sure whether this homemade version is comparable to the ones you get from restaurants and dessert shops, but, I am very satisfied with how delicious and refreshing it turned out. The taste was not compromised even though I used low fat fresh milk and low-fat evaporated milk.

Here's sharing with you a small tip...I placed the dessert in serving bowls and popped them in the freezer for about an hour or so before serving. The mixture turned a little icy and this became the best dessert especially on a hot and humid day :)

(**note:
- original recipe calls for 120ml coconut milk and 80ml of full cream milk, I replaced it with low-fat fresh milk.
- I cut down the sugar from 150g to 120g
- I used 150g mango puree instead of 30g)

Method:

To make the mango puree, remove the flesh of 1 mango and blend it in a blender. If you do not have a blender like me, simply mash the mango (use very soft and ripened mango) with a fork.

Soak sago pearls in water for 5 mins, drain and set aside. Place about 2 litres of water in a large pot and bring it to a full boil. Add the sago pearls and cook until translucent (about 5 ~ 10mins). Keep the water at a rolling boil all the time, stirring occasionally to prevent the pearls from setting to the bottom of the pot. Remove from heat, cover the pot and set aside for about 5 mins. Drain and rinse the sago pearls under running water until cool (this helps to remove any excess starch), drain and set aside.

Mix fresh milk, evaporated milk, sugar and water in a pot. Heat over low heat and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add the ice cubes. When the ice cubes are melted, add in mango puree. Stir to combine. Mix in the sago pearls.

Allow the mixture to cool completely and chill it in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

hmm ...... sago honeydew is one of my favourite, and I am sure I will love this ... I came across this dessert recipe recently too, but not sure from which magazine or book .... taking away coconut milk has certainly made this dessert less fattening, so more reason to enjoy more. :-)

This is such a nice website! I love to bake and cook, so I will definitely be looking at more posts =)

I also have a favor to ask of you- I actually found your blog while trying to search for wlteef.blogspot.com 's email address =( I think she recently made her blog invite only, but I would like to email her to ask me to put on her list. Would you be able to ask her to add me to her reading list? I love her recipes!

Aloha Happy Homebaker , I finally wanted to write you and let you know i love what you doing ..the baking ...the writing ...the Pictures are so much enjoyed by me and my Familie ....I can cook realy good but i could not bake anything for me always to comlicated to find thousends of ingredients ...1 year ago I cam across your Blog and all over I started to bake again only this time it actually tasted good and looked good , i am now baking bred and all sorts of things with so much joy because of you and your easy to fallow blogs ....I come to your Blog every other day to find something special and I just felt the need to tell you that because of you I am also a Happy Homebaker now ..lol I wish you had a Book I would be the first one to get a copie ... many many thanks and a warm Aloha from Hawaii .Anja

Hi HHbneed to ask u sth about the marshmallow cake. can u advise when is the appropriate time to start preparing the jelly layer. should i wait about 20 mins after i put the marshmallow layer in the freezer to cook the jelly? i am worried that if i cook the jelly too early, it may start to set before the marshmallow layer is hardened. if i cook it too late, then the marshmallow layer may get too hard.appreciate it if you can reply asap as i am planning to make the cake tomorrow (finally)thksoctopusmum

Hi Octopusmum, you can refer to my reply to your questions you asked earlier in that post. It is kind of difficult to give the exact timing. Maybe you can prepare the jelly layer just before you are ready to place the fruits onto the marshmallow layer?? This way, you are certain that the marshmallow layer is firm enough. Next, you need to freeze the cake with the fruit layer for another 10-15mins, during this time you the jelly layer is left to cool off, and if time is running out, you can always let the jelly mixture cool off quickly by setting it over a bowl of cold water. Dont worry too much, the jelly mixture will not set so quickly. Hope you have a good time making this cake :)

i did search for my previous question but don't think it is the same. in any case, thks v much for the new tips! i will be adding gelatine to the jelly so it may set faster. but i guess i can make it earlier...regardsoctopusmum

would like to report back on the marshmallow cake. Thks for all your tips, it is a success! My kids love it. The process was quite smooth sailing until i poured the jelly layer over the fruits. i did test first but some of the fruits (mainly those which are not directly on the marshmallow layer)started to float when i poured the jelly in. i had to scoop up the jelly layer, rearrange the fruits and pop it back to the freezer again. next time i will try the peach version..i did the matcha swiss roll with azuki bean too. but it was a flop! the whole thing looks like a flat pillow with layers of red bean in between. the egg and sugar mixture was beaten till stiff, not sure if that was the reason, it was v difficult to roll the cake and there were cracks everywhere. not sure if i have the courage to try swiss rolls again:(octopusmum

Hi Octopusmum, so happy to hear that you have great success with the marshmallow cake :) I felt bad when I read your previous comment as I was in a hurry and didnt really realised that your latest question was not really related to the ones that was posted earlier, so sorry! can forgive me??

As for the swiss roll, the egg and sugar mixture should be beaten till you can 'draw' a digit 8 with the whisk and the trail should not disappear immediately. I suspect the sponge layer cracked due to over baking?? The sponge layer became too dry?? Swiss roll is quite tricky, you are not the only one who is afraid to try it, I will only try whenever I feel 'lucky' :) Anyway, there are still lots of other cakes and bakes to try don't get too put off by the swiss roll!

Hi HHBno worries, i know i can be pretty annoying sometimes when i kept asking questions so thanks for your patience! for the swiss roll, i didn't get to make digit 8 because the mixture was v stiff, almost like the stiff peak stage when beating egg white for chiffons. and i baked it for 10 mins, but i spent sometime trying to put in plastic bag. i put it in , took out again, changed to another bag and took out again , finally, use a muffin tray to cover it. not sure if this affects the cake. the surface was very sticky and stuck to the baking paper. anyway, will try again if i felt "lucky" next time :)octopusmum

Hi Homegirl, I got it from Daiso, a couple of years ago. It is actually a small ramekin, and yes, it can be used for baking in the oven. I have not seen these coloured ones in Daiso any more...so far those available are plain white. Hope you got luck finding them, they are very pretty.

HHB, Think you are right. The coloured ones are not available in Daiso now (I just went to check out on Sunday)... Did not manage to see any white ones that can be used in oven either. Let me try again next trip to Daiso. Thanks for the info. :)

My mum loves this dessert and is FOREVER going on and on about how to make this!!! I have since found her 2 different recipes - neither of which she has tried out yet!Her birthday is in 2wks time & I've decided I will make her some! Would you recommend using the longish (yellow) Thai Mangoes or just the regular roundish mango but ripe?

(I got this link by reading about the bloggers meet on bakericious! sounds like you had a great time!)

PlumLeaf, No, I won't suggest you use grapefruits, it will be too sour, and the 'pulps' will be smaller than pomelo. You can try using Thai pomelo...red pulps, can get from neighbourhood fruit stalls sometimes or even ntuc. I have seen it at those fruit stalls at Chinatown (the one besides OG). The other way is to wait...since mooncake festival is round the corner...usually there will be pomelos (am I right?), if not then don't add pomelo. Just make Mango Sago for your mum's birthday, then make again when you get pomelo. As for mango, can use any type, as long as it is well riped and sweet.